Whether you are starting a home repair project or planning on redecorating using kitchen cabinet refacing, there are many choices of finishes and colors. You can opt choose from wooden grain and colour finishes, with decorative or patterned appearances. Dependent on the finishing materials to be utilized, costs and quality will vary.
Most refacing jobs use three types of materials, including stiff thermofoils, wooden veneers and plastic type laminates. The least expensive are the plastic laminates, but its appearance has the poorest quality. Even wooden grains are not much better, and it is not difficult to distinguish between real wood and laminated materials, even at a distance.
Thermofoils and laminates are definitely less realistic than wooden veneers. In fact, wooden veneers make a kitchen look much more attractive and warm. They most common types of veneers are cherry, maple, birch and oak.
Thermofoils are made of fiberboard materials, covered with a special foil. Unfortunately, the choices of wooden grains and colors are much less. However, the laminates are not as good in appearance, even far away, compared to grains. Even at a closer distance, the appearance is still not very appealing.
Thermofoils do have the advantage over laminates because they are more flexible. They are easily molded into a broad variety of styles. This allows you to have more decorative choices for your cabinet doors, being easily formed into arches or raised type panels. In fact, details can be better added into thermofoils, though the cost is greater than laminates, but much less than veneers.
Usually you will not have to replace tracks and hinges, if they are in good condition, but if not you may wish to add them to your project. If your drawers no longer open properly, you will definitely need to consider track replacement. Most people, however, prefer to get completely new drawers instead. This incurs higher costs, but still not unworkably high.
At the same time, you can get new countertops, though if the old ones are decent enough you will still need to remove them and replace them back again during your project. If the countertops are in good condition, pulling them out and putting them back again is not a big deal. If they are tattered and worn, or you want a completely new look for your kitchen, then investing in new countertops is a good option.
Another part that needs to be taken out during your project and put back later is your sink. If the sink is not in good shape, or you just want a new one, the job of replacing it during your project will not greatly increase your budget by that much. Generally speaking, most sinks are fairly inexpensive, dependent on the materials and type used. Again, there is no better time than during your project to do a new sink installation. New countertops and sinks can assist you in giving your kitchen the total makeover you are looking for.
